The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

A group of Crimean MPs want to strip Shevket Namatullayev of his accreditation for parliament because he did not rise when the Russian national anthem was played. Hromadskie.radio reports that one of the MPs has written to the director of TV ATR informing that at the last session of parliament Namatullayev did not stand when the anthem was played and did not react to MPs’ critical comments.

The author of the letter, Yefim Fiks points out that according to Russian legislation during official playing of the anthem, “those present listen, standing, men without hats.” The letter asserts that failure to comply with these legislative acts is an offence carrying administrative liability. Fisk asks the ATR management to “react” and to “have a talk with the journalist”.

Namatullayev confirms that he did not stand up. “This is my civic position. I am a citizen of Ukraine and did not take Russian citizenship. I do not intend to stand to the anthem of an alien country”.

He doesn’t know whether they will let him into the parliamentary sessions.

ATR says that pressure on journalists of what is the only Crimean Tatar TV channel has heightened over recent months. They have already received two warnings for what the prosecutor called ‘extremism’ linked with their coverage of peaceful gatherings of Crimean Tatars.

ATR General Director Elzara Islyamova stresses that there is no direct pressure, and says that there is a specific legislative field in which they now need to work. She is adamant that the channel will remain true to its principles of honest coverage and journalist ethics.

The warnings “on the inadmissibility of violations of legislation on countering extremist activities” were issued to Lenur Islyamov and Lila Budzhurova, deputy director on information policy. They were the prosecutor’s response to live coverage of the events on May 3. As reported, around 5 thousand Crimean Tatars arrived at the border to greet Mustafa Dzhemiliev who had been stopped from flying to Simferopol the day because of the 5 year ban which high ranking Russian public figures had previously claimed did not exist.

The second warning was over coverage of the remembrance gatherings which the authorities had banned on May 18, the seventieth anniversary of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People.